2 builders who never spoke to each other

Pay for a shirt people will actually wear

The whole point of physical merchandise is that the winner uses it where other people can see, which cheap stock defeats. Compare the blanks against the startup shirts already in your own drawer and buy the good one, pay for real lettering rather than setting the words in a type tool, and use a vetted freelance designer or a local artist for the artwork.

The method

1. 01

   Pay for good quality on physical rewards, because the point is that the winner actually wears or uses the thing in front of other people.

2. 02

   Try on your existing collection of startup shirts before choosing a blank, and pay for the good one: a shirt nobody wears is wasted money.

3. 03

   Pay for real lettering rather than setting the words in a type tool.

4. 04

   Get the artwork from a vetted freelance designer rather than doing it yourself, or crowdsource design ideas from your readers, or commission a local artist if the newsletter is local.

What it returned

• 50

  He compared the American Apparel 50/50 against the cheaper NextLevel 3600 and found the cheaper shirts not comparable

• $50

  SparkLoop recommends the vetted tier on Fiverr, where a design typically costs $50 to $150 and turns around within a day.

• How the Morning Brew sweatshirt felt was a large part of why so many subscribers chased it.

• Inspired by Fizzle's hand-lettered Heart & Hustle shirt; Sean McCabe granted permission for his lettering style and digitised it

Sources

• How to create t-shirts for your startupNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The shirt · 2015-09-02
• Referral Rewards 101: Guide to using merch & swag as rewardsLouis Nicholls · sparkloop.app · 2. High quality · undated